Our famous firefighter video has become some sort of Internet sensation, bringing in tens of thousands of viewers and building some serious buzz. Oddly enough, the clip seems to be extra popular on computers within the halls of public agencies throughout the nation.

Here’s a fun repeat-post from last spring – featuring two of 4SD Observer’s favorite idols: emergency service providers and the dim-witted Pam Keller. For sheer fat-headedness, selfishness, and fiscal irresponsibility, you just can’t beat the ESP union.

– Joe Sipowicz

Pam Keller was the only city council member who did not have the guts to impose a %5 pay reduction on members of the Fullerton firefighter’s union after negotiations failed on Tuesday. The union refused to accept a deal similar to those offered to all other Fullerton employees.

The union says the pay cut is unfair. Is that true? Let’s see what firefighters actually took home last year:

The article discusses a report from an un-named source that shares data on response times from reserve firefighting and medical units in Orange County. According to the article, there are 495 reserve positions with only 291 positions filled. Of the 291 positions, 41 will be laid off or fired.

Let’s put it in perspective. The Orange County Fire Authority employs 841 full-time firefighters/fire management personnel. They have budgeted 495 reserves for FY2009-10. That means that nearly 1/3 of total first responder capabilities rest in the hands of reserves. Fullerton has no reserve firefighters to help shore up minimum staffing requirements and minimize overtime. For a department which was founded as a volunteer fire department I find it ironic that they now have zero reserves on hand to help.

The OC Register article goes into the asset versus liability of having reserve fire units. Essentially, the report finds that several reserve units failed to respond to calls. That in and of itself is problematic but the real question that is missed is where has management been? You would think that management would notice pretty quickly that the reserves are not responding and then take corrective action. Apparently no one noticed.

Amazingly, the solution is quite simple. By integrating reserves with professionals in the same manner as law enforcement agencies, the reserve can be better managed and will have the opportunity to receive peer mentoring.

Why has management allowed reserves to have their own volunteer units and not an integrated approach? My guess is that the OCFA union would not allow it through their MOU or no one cared enough to explore the use and utility of having reserves. For that matter, why do we still have firefighters being paid to sleep in regional firehouses? No other public agency outside of fire service, would allow employees to sleep on the job.

I realize the thought of working an 8- or 12-hour shift might terrorize some firefighters but it would certainly make better sense than having dozens of high-paid public servants sleeping on the job. Other communities have already implemented 8-hour shifts. It would also address the argument that firefighters deserve their high pay and pension because they are away from their family more than other public employees. With that argument one would think our soldiers are millionaires considering the time they spend away from their families.

Firefighting has its own culture based largely on tradition. When those traditions negatively affect taxpayers, it is time to think if we want to continue down this costly “traditional” road or cut a brave new path that leads to improved services and lower costs.

When you think things can’t get any screwier at City Hall, look out! According to this story in the Voice of OC, the Fullerton Fire Department will save Brea taxpayers about $220,000 per year by sharing a battalion chief position that is now vacant.

Who would have guessed that Fullerton would come to the rescue of Brea , especially considering our serious budget problems and the deep cuts felt by many? Apparently, Fullerton Fire Chief Wolfgang Knabe must be feeling some brotherhood kindred spirit howling from the mall next door and has taken it upon himself to experiment at Fullerton ’s taxpayer’s expense. According to Knabe, maybe it will work and everyone will save money, or maybe it won’t and we all lose. Makes you feel good, doesn’t it!

Maintain radio silence

In all fairness, let’s hear him out and see what our City Council had to say about Knabe’s plan… (deafening silence) It would appear our own City Council didn’t know we were bailing out the City of Brea and their Fire Department. In fact, no one except a couple of Fire Chiefs seems to know anything about this experiment.

According to the Voice, we will be sharing a battalion chief which will help both cities fill their respective vacancies with the same person who can be in two places at once. Neat trick; I’d like to see it though.

I hear sirens coming and they sound like the Orange County Fire Authority! Ok, here is a trick question for you. Brea citizens and the Brea Fire Department staff wanted to have the department “disbanded”, as the Voice calls it, and have the OCFA take over. Why? Sure the taxpayers save money, but what’s in it for the would-be disbanded employees?

It’s been almost a year since we published the original list of retired Fullerton public employees earning over $100,000 per year in pensions.

Since then we have learned that our state’s unfunded pension liability has grown to over $500 billion dollars. Our Friends over at California Pension Reform have updated their list of CalPERS pensions, bringing on fifteen new “hundred grand” members from Fullerton this year. That’s an increase of 40% in a single year.

So let’s see who is getting the most from largess from taxpayers. New members are in bold:

Name

Annual Pension

Position

JAMES “JIM” REED

$166,781.88

Fire

GEOFFREY SPALDING

$149,852.88

Police

GREGORY MAYES

$148,889.40

Police

MICHAEL MAYNARD

$140,317.20

Police

DANIEL CHIDESTER

$139,416.72

Fire

FRANK PAUL DUDLEY

$133,821.00

Development Services Director

ALLEN BURKS

$133,782.36

Police

DOUGLAS CAVE

$130,761.36

Police

GLENN STEINBRINK

$127,533.00

Administrative Director

ANTONIO HERNANDEZ

$127,402.20

Police

H SUSAN HUNT

$126,970.80

Director of Park and Recreation

STEVEN MATSON

$126,430.68

Police

RONNY ROWELL

$125,168.40

Police

TERRY STRINGHAM

$123,482.28

Fire

GEORGE NEWMAN

$121,410.60

RICHARD RILEY

$121,113.36

MARK FLANNERY

$120,934.68

Director of Personnel

DAVID STANKO

$120,279.84

Police

ROBERT HODSON

$119,956.08

Director of Engineering

ROBERT “BOB” RICHARDSON

$119,720.88

Police

PATRICK MCKINLEY

$118,446.48

Chief of Police

DANIEL BECERRA

$116,917.20

Police

NEAL BALDWIN

$116,740.68

Police

PHILIP GOEHRING

$115,076.04

Police

BRAD HOCKERSMITH

$115,053.84

Fire

JEFFREY ROOP

$113,618.88

Police

KURT BERTUZZI

$109,255.08

Fire

LINDA KING

$108,168.84

Police

DONALD “DON” PEARCE

$107,972.76

Police

CAROLYN JOHNSON

$107,179.80

Library Director

TIMOTHY JANOVICK

$106,330.44

PAUL TURNEY

$105,747.12

RONALD “RON” GILLETT

$105,499.56

Police

ARTHUR WIECHMANN

$104,153.76

Police

JONATHON “JON” MCAULAY

$102,034.80

Fire

RICHARD HUTCHINSON

$101,822.16

JOHN PIERSON

$101,524.92

HUGH BERRY

$100,488.84

Assistant City Manager

WILLIAM KENDRICK

$100,194.48

Police

Remember… public employee pensions are negotiated between the unions and our city council. It’s time to figure out who has been representing the taxpayers and who has been sticking up for the unions.